A dog died after being left in the car for more than three hours as his owner attended a gardening event at Dublin's Phoenix Park.

The animal was left in the car at 11am and was found to be “extremely ill” upon its owners return to the vehicle at 2.30pm. The dog was brought to a local vet where he had to be put down.

A Garda spokesperson revealed Gardai at Blanchardstown are now investigating the owners who left the dog unattended in a designated car park as temperatures soared to over 22 degrees last Friday.

“Gardai at Blanchardstown were called to the scene at Bloom in the Park at approximately 2PM last Friday. The dog had been left unattended and was found unresponsive upon the owners' return to the car. It later had to be put down,” a Garda spokesperson said.

The owner is believed to have been extremely distressed on discovering the animal’s condition after leaving the annual gardening event in Phoenix Park.

A spokesperson from the Dublin Society Prevention Cruelty to Animals said: “The owners parked the car in organised parking at Bloom in a field alongside Phoenix Park, so there weren’t many people passing the car by during the day, who might have spotted the dog.”

“At 2.30 the dog was found to be very sick, and was later put to sleep by the vet. The owner was very upset after discovering the dog, but a greater awareness needs to be paid to the dangers of leaving an animal unattended in a car for long periods of time."

The spokesperson advised owners to be more conscious of their parking if they should have to leave their dog in the car.

“Owners should perhaps focus on finding a shaded area or even underground car parking. Ideally a person should be in the car with the dog so a window could be left open. Dogs should not be spending significant periods of time in cars on their own. We get a lot of calls in winter too about distressed animals in cars during extremely cold weather.”

“Pet owners should also take note of the time. It’s so easy for five minutes in a shopping centre to turn into an hour during which a car could become a very uncomfortably hot place.”